Malloy Calls For Constitutional Amendment

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called Friday for a constitutional amendment to prevent money set aside for transportation from being diverted for other purposes.

For years, Connecticut governors and legislators have routinely moved money out of the state's Special Transportation Fund and placed it into the general fund to balance the state budget. But Malloy now says that practice must stop because the state's roads and bridges must be fixed.

"I will submit language to the General Assembly for consideration that changes state law, so we can immediately make clear there will be no future diversions from the Special Transportation Fund or its revenue sources as we move through the process to pass a constitutional lock box,'' Malloy said Friday. "We must make sure every penny we raise for transportation goes toward our vision to transform Connecticut — now and in the future.''

Saying that fixing the state's infrastructure is "long overdue,'' Malloy said he was taking "common-sense first steps'' to preserve funding with no escape clauses by the legislature or governor to change the language.

Both Republicans and Democrats have praised the idea of a lock box in recent days, and some have proposed specific legislation that would provide for a constitutional amendment, but some said they needed to see more details about precisely how it would work.

Patrick O'Neil, a spokesman for the House Republicans, noted that the state's voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 1992 for capping spending, but that it has never been fully implemented because the legislature failed to approve the details. The constitutional amendment provides only the framework for controlling spending, and the details must be approved by a three-fifths majority in both the House and the Senate — which has never happened.

Instead, the state has been operating under a separate, statutory spending cap enacted by the legislature in 1991. Proponents say the statutory cap has worked, but critics are skeptical.

"We've done constitutional amendments, and they haven't worked out the way people at the ballot box had anticipated,'' O'Neil said. "A constitutional spending cap sounds great. A lock box sounds great.''

'On The Same Page'

Senate Republican leader Leonard Fasano of North Haven, who called for the amendment earlier this week, said he is pleased to be "on the same page'' with the governor.

"I will be happy to work with the governor and legislative leaders to draft language which strengthens protections of transportation funding,'' Fasano said. "As Republicans have previously emphasized, a state constitutional amendment is necessary to protect these funds. The constitutional amendment needs to be clear and enforceable — unlike our constitutional cap on state spending. There can be no wiggle room.''

He added, "The people of Connecticut are already skeptical about their state government, its inability to live within its means and honor its promises. These funds must be untouchable."

House Speaker Brendan Sharkey of Hamden, who leads the 87 House Democrats, said he supports the lock box, and described the proposal for a constitutional amendment and statute change as "very interesting." He said he is "looking forward to further discussions when the legislature receives the full details."

Sharkey also supports tolls — a highly controversial idea that has become a major topic of discussion at the start of the legislative session. Malloy says he is open to the idea and is willing to lead a discussion on the issue.

Both Republicans and Democrats have suddenly been rallying around the idea of the lock box. A freshman Republican, state Rep. Devin Carney of Old Saybrook, has already submitted a bill calling for a constitutional amendment. A second-term Democrat, Rep. David Alexander of Enfield, says he will be sponsoring a bill that prevents any money from being removed from the transportation fund.

Transportation has been a major issue for governors and lawmakers for years. After the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge in Greenwich in 1983, then-Gov. William A. O'Neill launched the largest transportation package in state history to fix the crumbling roads and bridges. When Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell was pushing large transportation plans in 2006, state officials calculated that O'Neill's $1 billion plan would have been the equivalent of $6 billion 23 years later.

After the legislature approved Rell's $1.3 billion plan in 2005, Rell then called for reviving the long-stalled New Britain-to-Hartford busway. That project was included in the federal transportation bill signed by President George W. Bush in August 2005, and Malloy eventually gave the final go-ahead for the project that is now scheduled to open on March 28.

Talking to reporters on Thursday, Malloy did not reveal the price tag of his transportation plan but said the plan must be comprehensive.

"It has to touch every community — large and small,'' Malloy said. "This is a big vision, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks.''

He also proposed a change in state law that can be enacted this year — at a faster pace than an amendment.

Number Of Steps Needed

"A constitutional amendment does not become immediately effective, so we're going to have to take any number of steps to make sure that we properly secure our lock box,'' Malloy said. "We're certainly not going to wait for two years to begin our program with respect to transportation.''

Without providing all of the details, Malloy said his proposal will be large in scope, including widening the long-jammed I-95.

"I said, in its entirety, 95,'' Malloy told reporters. "Yes.''

Congestion has gotten so bad in Connecticut that Malloy says it is no longer limited to the busiest times on summer weekends.

"It's substantial portions of the day now,'' Malloy said. "It's not just on a Friday afternoon during the warm weather months. It's all year. It's every day. That's what's happening in transportation in Connecticut.''

State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, the ranking senator on the transportation committee, said some GOP lawmakers have been pushing for several years for a constitutional provision, but the Malloy administration has been cool to the idea.

"I'm glad they are willing to support it now,'' Boucher said, referring to the governor and his staff. "I'm cautiously optimistic."

But even a constitutional provision cannot totally prevent the diversion of transportation funds for other purposes, Boucher said.

"There's got to be some fairly good and comprehensive language,'' she said. "Not to be overly superstitious about this, but given what we've seen in the past, one has to be careful with the details.''